Comedy Drama--Going a Different Direction

Jarring--that's what I realized this painting was, jarring. It also had no follow-through with a theme or content. I had started the painting because I love the stone ruin idea. This ancient Roman ruin face just had to have a place in the modern world, and I was determined to make it so. I took heed of comments on the first painting I did when people thought it was scary, so I created the happy face to go with it. The rest of the painting really had no purpose, and was just covering space.

My stubbornness often doesn't let me quit. Adding black to a painting like this is how I've finished many of my collage pieces, but I really didn't like that solution. I decided that toning the painting down with veils of acrylic paint might add some mystery to the piece and get rid of the jarring quality. So I mixed up matte medium, white, blue and black acrylic paint. Putting this over transparent watercolor was new to me, so I didn't know how the under-painting might react. I created a new stamp copying the pattern from the statue (ovals and lines) and created more interest and continuity.

My thoughts then went to the question of how to give this piece some content beyond the masks and I came up with the solution of using banners with play titles on them. I did this with more white acrylic, and scratched calligraphy. Can you read the play names in this photo? ( Clouds by Aristophanes, Hamlet, Our Town, West Side Story, Twelfth Night, and The Doll's House.) I'm not sure that's it's done yet, more calligraphy to enhance the play names, perhaps.

And in the midst of this creative process, I finished another Matisse inspired piece.

Aloha, Mrs. 29"x21"

Comedy Tragedy

I've had the beginnings of this piece in a drawer for a few weeks. I painted this Roman ruins face awhile back, but people responded that it looked scary. I love the face and the background of the photo I'm working from. A friend took the photo while in Turkey. It was laying on the ground with other remains of Roman grandeur. I decided to take away the scary and add a second face to create the dramatic masks theme. I'm also using a very different color pallet.

I really enjoyed creating collage paper using a stamp I made in a previous workshop. The collage solved the problems I created by putting an opaque acrylic blue on this transparent watercolor. It just deadened the painting. The blue collage brought back life to the opaque passages.

 

Comedy Tragedy, 22"x30"

Usually I add some black passages to this type of collage piece. Before making it permanent, I taped on some black pieces of construction paper to help me decide if the black adds anything. What do you think? Black or no black?

Comedy Tragedy, 22"x30" (with black accents)

End of Summer-2011

I'll do my best to recap the summer. It is a way for me to feel ready to move on to the fall and winter which will be much quieter and more focused on art.

Family--The Highs

Grandchildren were a huge part of this summer.

They lept over tall objects.

 

They rode horses.

They sat in our kitchen for breakfast.

Family--The Lows

My mother's physical health declined to the point we had to move her from the memory care facility she's been in for the last two years, to a nursing facility. The move has increased her mental decline. Most visits now, she asks me who I am.

Around the Place


I love this shot of a small snake surprising me in the garden.







Once again we took down the 30 or so swallow houses,




emptied out the nests and chased off yellow-jackets,

found creepy baby bird mummies,

and kept records of each nest.

Due to a cold spring and late summer, we had many fewer successful nests.

Art--High

After reworking parts of this painting, it was accepted into the Watercolor Society of Oregon Fall 2011 show.

Art--Lows

I had 3 other paintings rejected from other art competitions this summer.

I roasted at the McKenzie Art Festival--95+ degrees, and ended up in the red financially.

My classes at the Vida Community Center Ended.

Rogue River Rafting


We felt fortunate to be invited on a Rogue River rafting trip this September, since we did not get a permit ourselves.



Kayaking Mike displayed one of the many dead salmon we saw on this trip.

This heron was one of several we saw.

And the bears were out, although we never saw one in camp. This guy has a salmon nearly as large as he was, and further down river, many salmon remains lay on rocks at the river's edge.

Our friend from New Orleans, Julie, enjoyed being rafted into a small waterfall--a nifty way to cool down!

And the take-out: all that was left was packing up all this stuff into a trailer, driving 5 hours to home, cleaning and putting away the raft gear until next year.

Next on my to do list is putting away art fair stuff and cleaning my studio. I will be happy to have that behind me and paintings ahead of me!